Geetha Srinivasan | The Queen's University Belfast

Dr. Geetha Srinivasan CChem CSci, MRSC, FHEA, is a Senior Research Fellow at Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories, (QUILL) Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). After qualifying her PhD in Applied Electrochemistry from India, she moved to Northern Ireland in 2006 as a post- doctoral research fellow at QUILL, where she has been the chief scientist in industrial projects with Astron Advanced Materials and PETRONAS. She has rich experience in leading projects at the interface of academia and industry and delivering excellence. Her high impact research contributions in tackling environmental challenges using ionic liquids have been well received within scientific community and beyond. Geetha is an award winning scientist and has placed Queen’s University in the top one percent of global universities and Northern Ireland in spotlight by receiving outstanding women in science award from L’Oreal-UNESCO-Royal Society in 2012 for her work on ionic liquids in biomedical applications. She is also the recipient of three Institute of Chemical Engineering – IChemE awards and Nicklin Medal in 2013 as a key researcher in an environmental mitigation project dealing with toxic heavy metal removal from petrochemical streams. This work was carried out in collaboration with PETRONAS, Malaysian government based oil and gas company who have commercialised this technology under the name HycaPure HgTM transforming adsorbent materials from lab scale 30 mg to 60 tonnes real industrial plant and running successfully for the last 6 years. Her research leadership has contributed significantly to the research partnership between QUB and PETRONAS – since 2011 to date generating an income of around £2 million contributing to the university¬. Geetha as a natural research leader have steered research teams at both Queen’s University and PETRONAS towards wider implementation of the commercial product HycaPure HgTM and is playing a significant role in the knowledge transfer process from university to industry for the last 10 years. Being a passionate scientist, alongside her utterly demanding industrial research, Geetha has been developing her independent research on flexible electronic materials for medical device applications. Her recent work on flexible supercapacitors to power-up next generation medical implants has attracted high Altmetric scores with global media and public attention. The journal Energy Technology, after receiving global attention have made this article free for open access for 2018. Geetha is an exemplar of modern scientist who has proven that geographical borders are no hindrance to deliver an excellent global impact in science. Geetha’s professional success is exemplified by being a key inventor in 7 patents (one patented across 23 countries), author in high impact journal articles (both as collaborator and corresponding), and invited to deliver keynote lectures in international conferences. However, she feels personally honoured to be invited to talk to public, media and school children both nationally and internationally as a role model and inspire future scientists. As a young scientist she has been invited to talk to school children in Panama (amidst Nobel Laureate Prof Robert Huber) and young women scientists in South Africa. She a STEM ambassador (SENTINUS and CHEMNet) relentlessly contributing to primary and higher secondary schools’ science projects across Northern Ireland. Geetha believes in gender balance in science and promotes the under-represented women in science by showcasing their research to public through Soapbox Science and holds the pride of bringing this unique science outreach platform to Northern Ireland and conducting two events in 2015 and 2017 successfully. Geetha has been showcased by Royal Society of Chemistry as one of the 175 faces of Chemistry and shortlisted for Asian Women of Achievement Award in 2014 under the profession category to portray her success in crossing geographical and cultural differences and sustain in science. Dr Srinivasan is a mother of two children and a loved individual both professionally and personally.